Effect of bias in ferroelectric-antiferroelectric relaxation

Abstract

The ferroelectric-antiferroelectric transition in greyscale generation of antiferroelectric liquid crystal displays (AFLC) is a heterogeneous process. The process has been described as the growth of finger-like domains [1]. We have previously studied the ferroelectric-antiferroelectric phase transition, relaxation that follows the data pulse in surface stabilized asymmetric antiferroelectric liquid crystal displays using biasless video frequency waveforms [2]. This relaxation involves an intensity decay of the light transmitted by a pixel and depends on several parameters such as surface stabilization, rotational viscosity of the AFLC, magnitude of the data pulse, and bias voltage.The usual multiplexed driving of AFLC displays leads to long-term stabilisation of the grey levels induced by the data pulses within the selection time. However, depending on the bias level, alternative greyscale mechanisms may be obtained by allowing the grey levels to decay during the frametime. These greyscales may be advantageous in some instances since they improve the dynamic response of the AFLC device and reduce the reset time of the waveform.In this study we extend the previous work to include the effect of bias. We present the measured data, in terms of growth pattern and speed and present an extension of the previously model on order to explain the results.